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Freezer Stash Gone

This morning I thawed out my last bag of frozen milk to send my son to day care. I'm feeling pretty defeated. I will probably have to mix up a little formula tomorrow to send him, but I want to use it as little as possible! I am a teacher, so I have just 6 weeks until I can be home with him all the time and not worry about pumping. I'm looking for any suggestions you have about how to get through the next few weeks with little to no supplementing. Here are our details...

I nursed my first child, who is now 4, until 10 months. I can't remember when, but at some point before that, I began supplementing. By 10 months she just seemed to have either lost all interest in nursing or been really distracted.

My second baby is now 5 months old and has had only BM so far. (I want so badly to make it to at least one year with him!) On a typical school day, he nurses on both sides for a total of about 30-45 min. at 6:00am. I use a bottle and catch what is dripping out on the opposite breast while I nurse on the first side. (Is that strange....anyone else do this??) Most mornings I get 2 oz. of EBM this way! I then pump immediately after this feeding for about 10 minutes. I usally get 1-2 more oz.

My son is at school from 8:00-5:00. They give him three 7 oz. bottles of EBM. Is this too much? The DCP has said that he still acts like he wants more, but he never acts this way for me when I am nursing him on the weekends. How can you know if they are being overfed when it comes to EBM? How can I convince his teacher that less milk is really ok...if in fact he should be getting less? Our doctor said at our latest checkup that I should be aiming for 7 or 8 oz. bottles, but I'm wondering if the calculation he was using is really for formula fed babies. Also, I have tried solid foods (rice cereal as well as pureed banana, avocado, & sweet potatoes), but he REALLY is not interested. I've tried each several times with no luck. I plan to try the baby-led solids idea that I read about here next. At what point do I need to start worrying if he continues to refuse all solid foods? Right now he weighs a little over 16 lbs...he seems to be gaining very slowly.

So....for pumping....I pump three times at school. My times are roughly 8:30 or 9:00, 11:30, and 3:45. I pump for 10-12 minutes each time, and there is really no way for me to add another time based on my schedule. The amount I pump seems to vary pretty greatly, but lately it seems like I average maybe 10-15 oz. a day at school. So....even on a good day, 4 oz. from the morning + 15 oz. during school still doesn't add up to the 21 oz. I'm sending to day care! That, of course, is why my supply is all gone! Argh!

When we get home, we are nursing 2 or 3 times before bed. He usually sleeps from about 10 or 11 until 6. On the weekends, I feed him lots...whenever he seems hungry!

I'm drinking plenty of water (average of about 1 gal. a day!) and eating well. Based on what I've read here tonight, I'm going to try switching my breakfast to oatmeal, Mother's Milk Tea (just had my first cup tonight...blech), hand compressions while pumping, and swapping out the membranes on my pump. Any other ideas?

I know that was a whole lot of info. I guess my question boils down to....am I sending him too much milk, and if so, how can I convince his DCP of this fact? If I'm sending the right amount, what else can I try to increase my supply so that I can make it through until June? Thanks for your help!!!!

Re: Freezer Stash Gone

Get ready to hear it, but that is a huge bottle. I know every baby is different, but I can't imagine that your little one transfers that much milk during a normal nursing session. Even if you just back off to 5.5-6oz per bottle it should be enough to not have to supplement. Based on how long your nursing sessions are, he probably just isn't getting his sucking need met since the bottle feed goes so much quicker. So he is upset when the bottle is gone because he wants to suck more, not because is still hungry. Do you know how long it takes him to drink that 7 oz bottle? We give my daughter 3.5 oz in a bottle and feed her sitting up. It takes about 10 minutes for her to finish it, but she is happy. I really do think the feeding sitting up was the key for us to ensure she had enough time to get her sucking need met at the bottle. I would try backing down on the ounces and see how it goes.

~DD born 6/7/11
Successfully and while at work for 1 year. Now we are still till who knows...

Re: Freezer Stash Gone

Your supply is fine - GREAT in fact. The root of the problem is DCP feeding too much. Rule of thumb is 1-1.5 oz per hour away - so you need to send 9-15 oz. Have a talk with your DCP about normal bf babies (yes, 7-8 oz bottles is for formula), about paced bottle feeding, about other comfort measures after his first bottle. And immediately start sending 3-4 oz bottles. Maybe send 3 4oz bottles and one 2oz as a backup. There's no reason you can't continue to successfully keep him on breast milk for the next 6 weeks, without starting solids at all (generally you want to wait til at least 6 months) and without supplementing. Hang in there! And be confident in talking to DCP that they are over feeding.

Re: Freezer Stash Gone

Originally Posted by @llli*jojoma

My second baby is now 5 months old and has had only BM so far. (I want so badly to make it to at least one year with him!) On a typical school day, he nurses on both sides for a total of about 30-45 min. at 6:00am. I use a bottle and catch what is dripping out on the opposite breast while I nurse on the first side. (Is that strange.... anyone else do this??) Most mornings I get 2 oz. of EBM this way! I then pump immediately after this feeding for about 10 minutes. I usually get 1-2 more oz.

So....for pumping....I pump three times at school. My times are roughly 8:30 or 9:00, 11:30, and 3:45. I pump for 10-12 minutes each time, and there is really no way for me to add another time based on my schedule. The amount I pump seems to vary pretty greatly, but lately it seems like I average maybe 10-15 oz. a day at school. So....even on a good day, 4 oz. from the morning + 15 oz. during school still doesn't add up to the 21 oz. I'm sending to day care! That, of course, is why my supply is all gone! Argh!

It sounds like your supply is doing just great to me!! I would think that you would have plenty of milk and even be adding to your freezer stash. If you get things figured out with DC you may be able to add to the freezer again.

And when you are on break again you will be able to put your morning milk in the freezer so that you will have an emergency stash again.

Originally Posted by @llli*jojoma

My son is at school from 8:00-5:00. They give him three 7 oz. bottles of EBM. Is this too much? The DCP has said that he still acts like he wants more, but he never acts this way for me when I am nursing him on the weekends. How can you know if they are being overfed when it comes to EBM? How can I convince his teacher that less milk is really ok...if in fact he should be getting less? Our doctor said at our latest checkup that I should be aiming for 7 or 8 oz. bottles, but I'm wondering if the calculation he was using is really for formula fed babies. Also, I have tried solid foods (rice cereal as well as pureed banana, avocado, & sweet potatoes), but he REALLY is not interested. I've tried each several times with no luck. I plan to try the baby-led solids idea that I read about here next. At what point do I need to start worrying if he continues to refuse all solid foods? Right now he weighs a little over 16 lbs...He seems to be gaining very slowly.

That sounds like way to much milk to me. I would start making the bottles smaller, and possibly even sending more of them. I would talk to DCP about other ways to sooth the baby. He just may not be meeting his sucking need from the bottle so they think that he is still hungry.

5 months is a little young to start solids IMO, we started BLW at 6 months. It went slow at first but now he loves his food and surprises people at how much he eats at a time. The best part of it IMO is that you let them regulate what they eat and how much they eat. If he doesn't like something he throws it (usually on the floor) which is fine with us the dogs clean up the mess.

Re: Freezer Stash Gone

By what you wrote, are they only giving him 3 bottles a day? This may be why he's gobbling and getting overfed. Over a 9 hour period, I would expect 4 bottles of smaller amounts to satisfy not only his need for food, but also his need to suck. Smaller amounts, more often. If you sent 4 bottles of 4oz, maybe one spare 2oz just in case. That would only be a total of 18oz. Can you add another pumping session at night after baby goes to sleep?

Re: Freezer Stash Gone

I also wanted to add that breast milk is broken down faster, which is why babes want to eat more frequently than on formula. However that doesn't mean giving them more is better, it means feeding them smaller amounts more often is better. People who are accustomed to feeding formula think that if baby wants to eat again in 2 hours that they must not be eating enough. So they automatically want to feed MORE in quantity, but don't clue in to feed more frequently instead.

Re: Freezer Stash Gone

I want to thank everybody for your advice a few weeks ago. I think that you told me what I already knew, but I needed to hear it to feel confident when speaking to his DCP. Yesterday I put my first 5 oz bag of milk back in the freezer....yay!

In the days following this post, I let his teachers know I was going to make a change in how much I was sending. I've bumped him down to 3 bottles of 5.5oz. They didn't seem thrilled, but they agreed to try it. It seems this is working just fine.

The best part about this is that I am not spending all day, every day worrying about whether or not I will make enough for the next day. I'm at least one bottle ahead in the fridge each day...nothing to worry about!